Always You

xxxi. Questions and Answers

Elsa

The night had gone so sweetly that I almost forgot my need to talk to Jack. I didn't want to do it, didn't know if I could handle the answers I craved, but I knew it had to be done sooner rather than later. I just wished sooner happened to be a little later.

"Jack, I still need to talk to you," I told him, walking straight into his room in lieu of knocking. He was sitting on his bed, reading a book, but looked up in fright as I burst in. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-" 

"Oh, no, it's fine. I just... I'm jumpy." He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with his large hand. The air in the room had grown heavier with awkwardness and I felt my stomach growing cold with the anticipation of asking him.

"Well, I... How long do you intend to stay here?" I asked him, leading up to my question. I needed to know when he was leaving and for how long, knew I couldn't live without him if I thought he was in danger.

"Oh, uh, I don't really know. I can leave whenever you want me to, but..." He let his voice trail off, cheeks reddening. I realized he thought I didn't want him here, which wasn't the case, but I didn't correct him. I just continued.

"When you leave with the Guardians again, how can we keep in touch?" I asked, trying to stay formal but biting my cheeks to keep from crying. It hurt to have to ask him things like this, to not have the promise of waking up next to him like Anna had with Kristoff. I just wanted a normal life, a normal relationship, but things like that never seemed to come my way.

"I can't answer that. Things with the Guardians are always kind of sporadic, Elsa. I have no way to know what is happening when..." He answered, he seemed to be a little defensive, and I didn't want to start a fight but maybe things would be better that way. If he just left, I didn't have to worry about things going bad and having my heart broken. "I just thought that, you know, maybe... If you wanted... you could come with me and ask Moon to be a Guardian." He added. My jaw dropped, my whole world coming to a halt. Leave behind my kingdom, my sister, for what? The man I loved? It was an impossible choice.

"Jack, I couldn't leave everything in Arendelle," I started and he nodded, tears welling in his eyes and making me want to give in and leave with him this very second. "But I don't want to be without you, either." He nodded, not really understanding but pretending to.

"Why have you been playing the piano during the night? Does it have anything to do with Anna and the library?" He asked me, changing the subject.

"I... Oh, my God, Jack! You're a genius!" I cried, rushing out of the room to find Anna. It made perfect sense; if my father was haunting me about the piano, couldn't it be my mother making Anna search for a book? Couldn't it be connected, some kind of mystery our parents needed us to solve? It seemed utterly crazy, but it was just crazy enough to be the answer.

Jack

After Elsa rushed out of the room I was staying in, I didn't know what to do. There was only thing I could think to do, and that would mean leaving. Of course, this time I could come back, but would my absence hurt Elsa? I didn't know but I did know that I needed answers and there was only one place I was likely to get them. Without a backward glance, I grabbed my staff and catapulted off the balcony, instructing the winds to take me to the North Pole.

When I got there, the yetis and North were happy to see me, North looking much healthier than the last time I had seen him. He had put weight back on, the rosiness returning to his cheeks. Since it was nearing the end of September, everyone was on turbo at the North Pole, getting things ready for Christmas as they reached the final countdown.

"Jack! What can I do for you, my boy?" North asked, wrapping a large arm around my shoulders as the elves scampered underfoot, offering me milk and cookies which I politely refused.

"Well, it's kind of complicated. How would I go about convincing Moon to induce a new Guardian, one I've chosen?" I asked, almost laughing at the look on North's face.

"New Guardian, who Man in Moon has not chosen?" He scoffed. "Impossible." He was completely shocked, and I could tell he thought the idea was completely and utterly ridiculous.

"But how could I ask him about it?" I pressed, never one to be ignored. North shook his head, gestured with a giant hand to the opening in his roof where Moon was stationed.

"Go on," He instructed, and I moved to the platform. Every eye in the building was trained on me, intense curiosity at my situation the subject of all the chatter below me. I stared at the moon, a lump in my throat making it hard to speak. Finally, I took a deep breath and spoke.

"Um, Man in Moon, hi. I'm Jack Frost, you know me... I was wondering," I was cut off by a thundering voice that rang in my ears. I jumped back in shock, though no one else in the room seemed to hear it. I wondered if Moon could speak to only one person at a time before realizing this was exactly what was happening.

"Jack Frost, I know why you are here. I know you want me to make the Ice Queen a Guardian. True, she is a good candidate, but what is her center? What do you think makes her a Guardian?" He asked me, and I realized I didn't know. Elsa was afraid and guilty, and I had no idea what her center was. The only thought I had was her love for her sister. "Ah! Her sister. That is her center, good, Jack. But could you really take her from that? Would she be the same?" 

"No, no, she wouldn't." I answered, feeling the guilt settling into my stomach.

"And the Guardians without one of their own, the Guardians without Jack Frost, are they the same?" He asked me, the guilt pressing harder and making me realize that I had been standing with one foot in two doorways for much too long.

"No, no they aren't." I answered quietly, but I knew he heard me.

"Than you know what you need to do, Jack," He told me.

I did, and as much as I wished it wasn't so, I needed to do it.

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I'm so sorry for the late update! I have been crazy busy this week, though. Anyway, HUGE thanks for 16k reads! You guys are the best seriously the best. <3 Please remember to vote and comment, and check my other story Surviving Camp Cedar! (: